Styrkelse af forældrebrands' image gennem subbrands: Casen om B&O og B&O PLAY

Abstract

This master’s thesis is developed in order to investigate exsisting Danish customers’ attitudes-­‐, beliefs-­‐ and behaviour in regards to how a brand to the best effect can strengthen its brand image through the implementation of subbrands; based on the single-­‐case study of B&O and B&O PLAY on the Danish market. Through the master’s thesis’ empirical foundation and analysis, the master’s thesis aims to identify factors which impact exsisting Danish custsomers’ brand associations and their brand preference in regards to the weakening or strengthening of the parent brand’s image. In continuation, the master’s thesis also seeks to establish and present prospective recommendations as to how B&O can best strengthen the company’s brand image through subbrands. The master’s thesis takes its starting point in the existing literature on the subject of branding, found relevant in regards to master’s thesis’ research question: “What influence do subbrands have on the parent brand’s image, and through that on the brand loyalty of its existing Danish costumers, and how can a parent brand to the best effect strengthen its brand image through a subbrand?” In order to sufficiently answer the research question, ten semi-­‐structured interviews were conducted, as a qualitative study was found to be beneficial to conduct before for a quantitative survey. The quantitative survey was then conducted over the course of four weeks and yielded 58 usable responses on the basis of 22 demographic and socio-­‐graphic questions. This triangulation of research methods should provide the findings of the master’s thesis with both validity and generalizability. On the basis of the conducted studies, an analysis was carried out, in which B&O’s existing Danish custsomers’ attitudes and beliefs in connection to the strengthening or weakening of B&O’s brand image were investigated in depth. It became evident from the analysis that the majority of the respondents do not consider B&O PLAY to be influencing their brand loyalty towards B&O negatively, and that B&O PLAY does not impact negatively on B&O’s brand image. However, the analysis of the conducted studies also indicated an age gap between B&O’s existing Danish customers, showing that younger respondents have more positive attitudes towards B&O PLAY and its impact on B&O’s brand image, whereas the older segment tend to be more reluctant towards B&O PLAY. This observation has proved to be of great importance in relation to B&O’s brand image, because the age gap has vast implications on the development of contradicting attitudes towards B&O among the existing Danish customers. Additionally, the analysis made it possible to create a model of subbrands’ influence on brand loyalty and brand image, developed on the basis of the emerged notion that preference for a brand can be divided into internal and external preference. Thus, it has been developed in order to outline and visualize the influence process of a subbrand. The master’s thesis’ discussion was conducted on the basis of the above gathered empirical results, and in the discussion every relevant aspect from the analysis relating to the answering of how a parent brand to the best effect can strengthen its brand image via subbrands were debated. In conclusion to this, the master’s thesis recommends that B&O firstly seeks to establish greater coherence between the company’s vision and its product launches and secondly, that B&O makes a strategic choice as to whether B&O should be a luxury brand or move in a more mainstream direction. Moreover, the master’s thesis recommends that B&O create harmonization between its product lines in order to minimize the degree of internal preference and reversely increase the degree of external preference, which should strengthen the degree of brand loyalty as well as strengthen B&O’s brand image. In order to maintain B&O’s relevance in the future, the master’s thesis further recommends that B&O creates a complementary mission, through the use of a well-­‐founded and strong brand portfolio strategy, which should provide B&O with greater coherence between its brands and a stronger over all brand image. Finally, it has become clear that further investigation into the above-­‐mentioned subjects is essential in order to determine whether or not the master’s thesis’ findings are generally applicable to other brands than B&O and other markets than the Danish market